Hello all, I'm new to this list - my wife and I just purchased a 1981 C&C 34 center board version. The boat has been on the hard for about 1.5 years after being a salt water boat here in the Boston area. The surveyor assessed that the rudder was "saturated and delaminating" and he recommended rebuilding or replacing it due to concern about corrosion of the stainless rudder post in the low-oxygen environment inside the rudder. (My surveyor wasn't specifically familiar with the C&C boats from this vintage). I called South Shore Yachts last week to inquire about getting a new rudder built - but they suggested that it likely wasn't necessary and that they had never seen one fail due to corrosion of the stainless steel rudder post (which is my main concern) and that while most likely the welded carbon steel plate inside the rudder would have surface rust it wasn't likely to be a structural issue.
Following the recommendation from them and on some of the forums, I drilled several 1/4" holes in the rudder to investigate further. The hole in the bottom drilled upwards just hit fiberglass for the length of the drill bit ~2.5 inches as did a side hole about 3 inches up. In the side about 5 inches up from the bottom, I did hit water that drained out and another hole about 12 inches from the top in the middle of the side also hit water and saturated soft foam. I did not hit a metal plate in either location. The hole in the top went through a layer of fiber glass in the middle and then into foam in the other side. Combined both holes drained about 3 cups of water from the rudder in the first hour or so and maybe a little more over night. The water that drained out was not rust colored but rather tinted black. So the surveyor was correct that the rudder is full of water and the foam inside is pretty soft. However, it also seems like the fiberglass is thick and pretty solid and there is no sign of cracking from it freezing during the winter. Obviously, I would prefer to avoid the cost of rebuilding/replacing the rudder if it isn't necessary, but also don't want to take on too high a risk of having a catastrophic failure of the rudder while under way. Once the rudder dries out a bit, I could just fill the holes I drilled with epoxy and perhaps try to seal around where the rudder post comes out of the top which is where I assume the water got in the first place since it didn't drain out with the boat on the hard for over a year. Any experience out there investigating potential corrosion of similar vintage and design C&C rudders or other recommendations? Thanks in advance! Nathan ~~~ Nathan Post S/V Wisper C&C 34 Malden, MA USA
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